The Rockford IceHogs hosted the San Diego Gulls at the BMO Center for two games over the weekend. For the IceHogs, the Gulls seemed to be an ideal opponent for a team looking to snap a four-game losing streak. Turns out that the Gulls weren’t in on the plan to get Rockford back on track.
The IceHogs were outscored 12-1 by San Diego in two lackluster efforts by the home team. The Gulls (7-11-4) pasted Rockford 7-0 Friday night, then administered a 5-1 whipping on Saturday. Suddenly, a struggling San Diego club has won three straight and has climbed out of the Pacific Division basement.
Rockford, however, has dropped six in a row. Now 9-10-2 on the season, the IceHogs sit in third place in the Central Division standings along with Iowa, who comes to the BMO Center for two games on December 15 and 16.
A Weekend To Forget
San Diego dominated the action from the get-go Friday, chasing Hogs goalie Drew Commesso with four goals in the first 22:39 of action. Andrew Agozzino led the way for the Gulls with a pair of lamp-lighters.
Jaxson Stauber, who gave up three goals in relief of Commesso on Friday, kept the Gulls out of his net through the opening period Saturday. Then, the wheels came off for Rockford.
San Diego put up three goals in the decisive middle frame. Glenn Gawdin opened the scoring after he sent a deflection past Stauber 6:32 into the second. Midway through the period, the Hogs goalie attempted to send an outlet pass up the half boards. The puck was picked off by San Diego’s Brayden Tracey and deposited into the vacated Rockford net.
Five minutes later, a turnover at the San Diego blueline led to an odd-man rush the other way. Chase De Leo wound up with the goal that broke the back of the IceHogs.
Down 4-0 in the third period, Rockford managed its lone goal of the weekend. That came when Logan Nijhoff tipped in a point shot by Ethan Del Mastro. It was Nijhoff’s second goal of the season.
Gulls netminder Tomas Suchanek drew the starting assignment in both games for San Diego, stopping 42 of 43 shots. Suchanek has started all three games for the Gulls on their current road trip. He is 3-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage; the rookie has had quite the week.
Scuffling IceHogs
Rockford ended November on a six-game point streak. Fortunes have turned for the IceHogs over the past two weeks.
- In this current six-game funk, Rockford has seven goals.
- With several veteran scorers unavailable due to call-ups (Joey Anderson and Cole Guttman) or injuries (David Gust and Anders Bjork), the IceHogs’ depth players have struggled to pick up the offensive slack.
- Rockford was overwhelmed in the defensive zone for the bulk of the weekend, allowing the Gulls multiple chances without getting clean zone exits.
- The IceHogs were 0-9 on the power play in the two games. In total, they are fruitless in their last 20 attempts since Del Mastro converted early in a 4-2 loss to Manitoba on December 1.
Bright Spots?
- Ryder Rolston is a rookie forward who is making a dent on the scoreboard. His hustle has created some of Rockford’s better scoring chances in the past couple of weeks, and has two of the IceHogs’ five December goals.
- Defenseman Louis Crevier has played well in his call-up to the Chicago Blackhawks, picking up his first NHL point in Chicago’s win over St. Louis.
- Antti Saarela and Josh Healey returned to the Rockford lineup for both games with San Diego. There seems to be a decent chance that Gust and Bjork could be back in action next weekend.
